


A Thief's Lesson in the Art of Not Knowing What You're Agreeing to

by Books_Forever



Series: The Memories Left In-Between [1]
Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Black Sheep is a badass cinnamon roll, F/M, First Dates, It's so weird having her refer to herself by her full name, Like every time it's "Black Sheep" and I can't get over it, Misunderstandings, Valentine's Day Fluff, Vile academy, also very naive in the romance department, haha even though it's months after the actual date, well kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25570912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Books_Forever/pseuds/Books_Forever
Summary: Black Sheep probably should have thought things through.To be fair though, it wasn't her fault she grew up on an isolated island for thieves, thus effectively stopping her from knowing the most common phrases and references.But seriously, what is Valentine's Day?!-Or the one where Black Sheep is really confused, and all Gray wants is to get a date while still looking cool.
Relationships: Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep & Shadowsan, Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep/Gray | Crackle
Series: The Memories Left In-Between [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853173
Comments: 9
Kudos: 130





	A Thief's Lesson in the Art of Not Knowing What You're Agreeing to

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [She's Too Good for You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18402704) by [ko_chan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ko_chan/pseuds/ko_chan). 



Although Black Sheep had never once considered herself naive, the year she spent at her Vile Academy quite well proved just how ignorant of the outside world she was. She could speak over seven languages, knew the geographical location of every _single_ country in the world, had the skills and knowledge of a world-class thief, yet she didn’t know the first thing about relationships and societal norms. 

It was never really a problem for her as she grew up on the Isle of Vile, but to her new friends, it had seemed like she hadn’t even lived the past sixteen years. Black Sheep could still distinctly remember the shouts and indistinct gasps when she had told them she never went to high school (“Not gonna lie, you probably dodged a bullet there, mate.” “I can’t believe this child! Never went to highschool?!”).

As such, the group saw her as not only the most gifted in their year but also the most sheltered. Black Sheep didn’t enjoy being treated as a child in the group, especially given her status as the youngest, but there was nothing she could do to remedy her ignorance, so she sucked it up and tried to learn as much as she could so that they would consider her an equal (although beating Tigress in class after being called a baby would never get old). 

Even though she was seen as the most naive, Black Sheep was able to handle it for so long only because she had Gray, her best friend, with her. Although he liked to tease her about not knowing certain things (“Mate, how have you _not_ heard of Henry Porter?! It’s quite literally a world-wide classic in the fantasy genre!”), he always explained things to her with a gentle smile and never failed to treat her as an equal (although he could be _really_ protective at times).

So as said before, Black Sheep knew she was lacking in the social department, but even she didn’t expect to be so confused by one of her closest friends about an apparently known holiday, just as she was having breakfast.

* * *

Most days at Vile Academy were repetitive for Black Sheep, with the only hint of change appearing in the presence of her friends, and so when she had woken up that day to get ready for her first class, she expected much to be the same. What Black Sheep didn’t expect was the snickers and laughter of her classmates as they whispered in hushed tones in the hallways. As expected, Black Sheep was really confused. Vile Academy was, after all, a thief academy, and as such, most students held themselves to a certain degree of pride and professionalism, but looking at them now, Black Sheep couldn’t help but think of little kids. 

_Was there perhaps a break-in? Did someone steal a device from one of the faculty? The cleaners had their supplies stolen from them again?_

Determined to get to the bottom of what’s going on, Black Sheep sets out to breakfast to find Gray.

She finds him sitting in their usual table, two trays set down as he waves her over to come eat. She waves back as she walks over with a small smile, chest warming up at the sight of his thoughtfulness. 

“Hey,” she greets as she sits down.

“G’day, Lambkins. Looking pretty as ever,” he replies back, punctuating his comment with a wink.

Black Sheep laughs, waving his comment off. “Oh, you tease.” Black Sheep takes her tray and takes a spoonful of oatmeal, nose scrunching as she prepares herself for the taste. _Let it be known that the cleaners were not hired for their culinary skills._ “By the way, do you know what’s up with everyone today?”

Gray tilts his head at her question as he also takes a bite from his breakfast. “What do you mean?”

Black Sheep waves her spoon around the cafeteria, trying to prove her point. “Everyone’s being super giggly and secretive today. Did something happen?” Black Sheep’s eyes light up as she thinks of the possibilities. “Ooooh, maybe someone finally got that new weapon Dr. Bellum’s been working on! I was going to try and get it this weekend but I guess I pushed it back too far if someone already had their hand at taking it and potentially succeeding.”

Gray puts his spoon down to stare at her, seemingly surprised. The sight makes Black Sheep squirm uncomfortably, and she wonders what exactly she missed if _Gray_ was surprised she didn’t know.

“Crikey, mate! You do know what the date is today, right?” 

_What?_ If anything, Black Sheep was even more confused now. “It’s February 14th?”

“And you do know what’s on this day, don’t you?”

“Uh, remind me what exactly is on this day?”

Gray leans back with wide eyes. “It’s Valentine’s Day, mate. You know, the day people get together and spend obscene amounts of money on chocolate?”

 _Valentine’s Day?_ Black Sheep could tell by the disbelief in his tone that this was a day she should definitely be aware of. Her eyebrows pinched as she realized she had _no idea_ what he was talking about, and while normally Black Sheep would ask what he meant, she was sick of not knowing things and she didn’t want to disappoint one of her closest friends, so she did the next best thing: she nodded.

_Fake it till you make it, right?_

“Sorry, I forgot for a second there. I’ve never really celebrated holidays, especially this one, so it just slips my mind every year,” Black Sheep said, wearing an embarrassed expression.

Gray nods in agreement. “I reckon most of us in the academy haven’t celebrated this holiday properly, though it does bring up a big hype for those that decide to try their luck.” 

_Try their luck?_ Before Black Sheep can try to steer the conversation elsewhere, Gray opens his mouth once again. “Speaking of Valentine’s Day, what say you about having a date today?” Gray leans back in his seat casually, but Black Sheep could tell he was nervous by how he avoided her eyes.

She blinked. “A date?” 

“Well, nothin’ fancy, mind you, but I’ve been known to be a great companion. And I reckon since it’s Valentine’s Day and all, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot,” he replies, looking at his plate as he plays around with his spoon.

 _As in, a date on a calendar?_ Black Sheep was even more confused now, wondering what on earth he could mean. It seemed that this “date” was not like a date on a calendar and was somehow related to Valentine’s Day, so asking him about it now would expose her lie. She trusted Gray enough to know that whatever he was asking was probably not dangerous, so Black Sheep didn’t see any reason to say no. 

“Uh . . . sure?” she replied, unsure of what else to say. It apparently was the right thing though, considering how Gray grinned happily and leaned forward, nervousness forgotten.

“Lamby, you won’t regret it! How about we meet outside the dorms after classes end at say . . . 6 pm?” he asks excitedly.

Whatever she had just agreed to had obviously made Gray really happy, so Black Sheep did not have the heart to regret this decision. And despite having not a single idea what she agreed to besides the fact that it’ll include spending time with Gray, Black Sheep nodded shyly and decided that she needed to find out what she had gotten involved in as soon as possible without Gray finding out so that she wouldn’t see his disappointed expression.

Gray grins back at her just as Black Sheep spots the rest of their squad pouring in the cafeteria, and she waves them over, hoping for a change in conversation to get her thoughts in order. 

As they all sit down and eat breakfast, Black Sheep realizes that today will be a race against the clock to find out exactly what she had agreed to. 

_Well then. I wonder if the Vile Staff will mind me stopping by today._

**Author's Note:**

> So . . . hahahahaha, I finally come out of hiatus to post this. I got into the fandom this summer and I just love the potential between these two!! Red Crackle for the win! (Of course no hate against Carulia.)
> 
> Anyways, don't worry Shadowsan will definitely discover what Gray did and have a very friendly conversation with him (poor Gray). 
> 
> Sooo, I'm planning for this to be a collection of one-shots that will eventually lead to a canon divergence in the series. (I may or may not post one-shots soon of either the date or the very interesting Dadosan lecture, we'll see.) Also, watch out cause there will be an incoming one-shot about Black Sheep discovering *exactly* what a date entails ;).


End file.
